Here, you’ll understand how these instant pot experts use their pressure cooker into its full potential. (See pro tips and comments below)

So, I decided to combine all these into one single post for your reference. Might better to bookmark this by pressing Ctrl+D or Command+D if you’re using Mac because I’ll update this every time I got a priceless expert feedback from our “experts”

Let’s begin.

1. Do I cook a whole chicken on the chicken setting and leave the default time; or do a manual setting for 30 minutes on high?

Either way it can, but what makes them different is the outcome; the consistency and texture. Again the temperature of food ingredients will affect the length of cooking time. Considering that the whole chicken is frozen, the pressure cooking time is around 25-30 minutes depending on the size and condition of chicken.

Now here’s the 2 way approach: let’s say the whole chicken is around 4 lb. and in room temperature.

“Manual Setting” – Here’s the step:

Open the lid and Press “Sauté”

melt butter + sear the chicken skin note: it’s normal if you can’t seared the whole chicken, using a good strong tongs carefully sear the breast part until brown. For beginners, searing is putting the meat in high heat oil and leaving it for like a minute or until the skin meat gets some crust and goes off the pan.

put the seared whole chicken on top of trivet + Press “Keep Warm/Cancel” to stop the “Sauté” mode

lock the lid in place + Press “Manual” then it shows 30 and light on “High Pressure”

leave that setting, the only thing you’ll check if the Steam Release Handle – found on top of the lid – is if the tip is pointing on Sealing. You need to seal it so pressure inside will builds up.

After 30 minutes of cooking time – there’s still pressure inside.

Let it release naturally for 5 minutes. Then using a wet towel, carefully switch the tip of Steam Release Handle to “Venting”.

Then don’t do anything except to wait the float valve to sink again (float valve is the small circular iron that rises up every time pressure builds up inside)

When you see it is fully sink back – you can now open the lid and check the beauty of your work.

The steam release and float valve

“Poultry Setting” – Here’s the step:

Open the lid and Press “Sauté”

melt butter + sear the chicken skin note: it’s normal if you can’t seared the whole chicken, using a good strong tongs carefully sear the breast part until brown. For beginners, searing is putting the meat in high heat oil and leaving it for like a minute or until the skin meat gets some crust and goes off the pan.

put the seared whole chicken on top of trivet + Press “Keep Warm/Cancel” to stop the “Sauté” mode

lock the lid in place + Press “Poultry” then set it to 25 by pressing [ – ] and [ + ] button

Let it release naturally.

Meaning don’t do anything except to wait the float valve to sink again (float valve is the small circular iron that rises up every time pressure builds up inside)

When you see it is fully sink back – you can now open the lid and check the beauty of your work.

2. Are there any step by step instructions on how to use and set the manual function?

Instant pot cooker “Manual Key” is a setting that allows you to manually sets the cooking time.

The cooking time you’ve set will start counting after the working pressure or the pressure inside the pot is completely build up.

So think about this dish “Red Wine Poached Pears by Laura Pazzaglia”, she used a manual setting. This step will be similar in every recipe except the setting of time.

mix 1 bottle of red wine together with bay, cloves, a stick of cinnamon, 1 tsp of ginger and 1 ⅓ of sugar and peeled pear.

close and lock the lid of Instant pot. – Make sure it is completely lock because you are about to build pressure.

Now press “Manual” key

Notice that there is [ – ] and [ + ]; Now Press [ + ], repeatedly until you set it up to 9

It means you’re going to pressure cook it for 9 minutes.

That 9 minutes countdown will starts only when working pressure is reached. So the temperature of the food that you’re about to cook will depend on how long the working pressure would be.

3. I couldn’t get the pot to heat up under Manual. What is happening inside?

Again “Manual” is a key that allows manual setting of cooking time.

It’s like your personal choice of cooking time. If you are a moderate to experienced cook, you have a better understanding of how the food behaves over the heat as time goes by.

The pot wouldn’t heat up that as easily especially if the food ingredients are frozen. Now the time set under “Manual” mode is the pressure cooking time – and the countdown will only begins when working pressure is reached.

Working pressure is from the time you put the food ingredients up to time the cooking pressure builded up. After that cooking pressure, Instant pot cooking sensor will signaled the timer to start the countdown.

4. But I have trouble understanding which buttons to press and when, and I really don’t understand about pressure, releasing pressure, etc. It all seems confusing and complicated to me.

Even though I cook for living, I was bit puzzled when I saw the instant pot control panel.

Since I understand the nature of pressure cooking, after reading the manual and some recipe testing, I finally had this connection with the Instant pot.

Allow me more time to explain this.

Pressure happens when you trap the heat. The food will cook inside the pot because of the trapped heat.

You can trap it by locking the lid in place – properly! and checking the small handle on top, Instant Pot calls it the Steam Release Valve. It must be pointing out to “Sealing” because you want to seal it. It blocks the hidden hole on it.

Now when the pressure cooking is done – the heat source slows down. Of course there’s still pressure inside of it. Now that pressure inside – whether you like it or not should be getting out.

You have two ways of releasing the pressure – the natural and the quick release.

How do you know if it is quick release or natural?

Think about this – if you’re meat is a beef chucks, briskets or some pork shoulder. Any most exercise part of meat is the hard one and if you are using this for cooking – you need to use the Natural Release because you want the meat to stay a couple of time under the trapped pressure to be softer and flavorful.

Now for the quick release – you use this for soft food ingredients, let’s say fish or vegetable and you want to steam it.

Basically, with the same pressure cooking principle – water – food ingredients – pressure trapped – short cooking time – It will take around 2 minutes for veggies.

And for fish, let’s say 7 minutes or less – depending on thickness – pressure buildup time (depends if it is from room temp or frozen) – then finally the pressure release.

Here you need to release the pressure as quickly as possible because you don’t want to keep your food under heat pressure for more time otherwise you’ll end up overcooking it.

You release the pressure by pointing the Steam Release Valve to “Venting”.

In that way, the trapped pressure inside will quickly goes out and you’ll see the steam going out from that vent.

5. Upon using the Instant pot pressure cooker, how long it has to warm up before cooking?

If you want to have it fast let’s say 5-7 minutes; use warm liquid (either water or stock) and make sure the food ingredients are in room temperature; in that you’ll get the pressure UP in short time.

However, sometimes we forget to bring out the food ingredients and still frozen when it’s time for us to cook, and this will affect the cooking time.

With this frozen condition, it will take around 25-30 minutes before pressure builds up.

6. How much time do I have to add to a recipe for time to pressurize?

The time in building up pressure depends on the temperature of the food you’ll put into the pot.

When I roasted the 3.58 lb. of whole chicken, using the manual setting with the food ingredients rest first in room temperature, it takes around 10 minutes before the actual timer starts. It means that the pressure inside already builds up and the food starts to cook under pressure.

Another thing is the liquid temperature that you’ll be adding. Instant pot has a well designed feature that has the ability to heat up evenly.

So it will take 25-30 minutes for frozen food items.

7. If I do meatballs in a sauce do I use the meat/stew setting or do it manually?

You can do either.

If you want to stay a bit time in your beautiful kitchen, just do it manually and set it accordingly.

You can either do it using Stew Program – low pressure – for 15 minutes.

8. Is Instant Pot initial test run important?

Doing the instant pot water test is optional, but I highly recommend it because it will helps you understand how the pressure works in your new cooker.

Some newbies are scared about cooking with pressure but by doing the instant pot water test, somehow it will make you comfortable.

There’s 3 important factors why the initial test run for Instant Pot is highly recommendable.

First, you want to know how much liquid will evaporate. This will give you an idea how much liquid you need to put into it to avoid making your food dry or get burnt.

Second, water test for Instant pot will give you a less chance of ruining the machine compare to actually start cooking the food on it.

Lastly, instant pot initial test run will sterilized your new equipment and discover if there’s a flaws or leak in pressure.

Here’s the step by step guide to Instant Pot water test run:

Make sure the steam release handle and float valve are properly installed and the sealing ring is align with the lid. This is important because this will hold the pressure during the initial test run.

Add water to your instant pot stainless inner pot up to the inner mark “3”. Some do it for like a cup of water. I would suggest that follow what the manufacturer says.

Close the lid and make sure that the steam release handle is pointing to “Sealing”.

Press the “Steam” Button.

Press “-” or the “the minus sign” to change the time to 2 minutes. You’re doing this because you want to set it into 2 minutes pressure mode period.

Around 10 seconds, the Instant Pot pressure cooker will be in a preheating cycle. Within minutes, steam comes out until the float valve pops up and seals the cooker.

Once the countdown is finished, the instant pot will beep and automatically go into “Keep Warm” mode.

IMPORTANT: Before you open the lid, make sure all the pressure must be released. You can do the “Quick Release” by pointing the Steam Release Handle into “Venting”. This Handle or lever is located on top of Instant Pot.

9. I started a pork roast in my instant pot and decided after it already got up to pressure that I should add more time. I can’t figure out how to add more time while it’s cooking. I tried pushing the + button and the adjust button, but didn’t seem to do anything. Any suggestions?

The best way to do add more time when it already got up to pressure is to leave lid alone then reset your time as you usually would.

This is by hitting the Cancel (the Warm/Off button) then press manual and re-enter the desired time.

I asked Jay from GreatChowTv.com (lots of awesome Instant Pot recipes here) and told me that even hitting the Keep Warm/Cancel button the pressure still stays. Just set a new time.

Comments

I just got the Instant pot. Does the “lock” mode on the cover take time or does it lock as soon as you choose a pressure cooking option? I am cooking soup and turned the tab to seal and I can still open the lid. Is that normal?

I was making squash soup. Instructions said to sauté onions etc. Which I did. Then hit manual and plus or minus the time required. Hit manual but unable to get time time to come up . What am I doing wrong. Final 30 minutes came up but unable to plus or minus the time.
Thanks Carol

I just started using an Instant Pot. The only thing I’ve been cooking so far is black beans. Half the time they come out perfect, the other half, starchy and mushy. I cook them exactly the same way: 1lb black beans (supermarket brand), 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp salt, 2 bay leaves, cooked on manual 20 mins, quick release after standing 15 mins. Any idea why this happens? I also fear that if I start cooking more complicated meals, cooking inconsistentency could ruin it, due to this experience.

I just cooked a cheesecake in my instapot. Followed the recipe. Added 1.5 cups of water to the bottom. When it was done cooking the pot was dry and looked almost burnt A little water was underneath like it leaked too Any ideas what I did wrong?
Thank you

Hi, if I’m making a soup (butternut squash in this case) and after it’s done I decide it needs more time, how exactly does that work. Do I put the lid back on and just start the same? Will the pressure be reached quicker?
Mary

When I use the sauté feature, when finished and lock the lid in place set timer it will not build pressure. The timer starts counting down. Called the company and they said I need to take the inner pot out and letting it cool off. Has this happened to anyone else?

But when we’ve set it for something like “Beef Stew”, it will often NOT build up pressure even when the timer IS going. I think it’s a major flaw that’s been very difficult to find anything about.

So I think that statement in the article about the timer not starting until pressure is built up is incorrect. Our timer seems to be based on something else entirely.

What I’ve found is that the little round metal “plug” next to the release valve is not very reliable in sealing. I’ve burnt the heck out of batches of food because the heat just stays on – apparently because there is no pressure being built up and the temperature never gets over 212. But that doesn’t keep the timer from starting!

Sometimes it just takes tapping the area of the lid where that metal plug is, sometimes it takes briskly screwing/unscrewing the lid to loosen up that plug, and sometimes it takes the addition of water to be able to create enough steam to get the plug to seal.

We have to watch that metal plug like a hawk when the Instapot is starting out, because the vast majority of the time it does NOT seal by itself, and we can pretty much be guaranteed to end up with burned food because of it.

How do I know when I need to adjust the cooking time in a recipe if using a different amount of meat? I want to make the Kalua Pork from the Instant Pot recipe book, but that calls for 4lb of pork shoulder cut into 2 pieces to be cooked for 90 minutes. I am only using 2.5lb of pork shoulder, so will I need to adjust the cooking time? Do I need to reduce the cooking time because 2.5lbs is less than the original recipe’s 4lb? Or do I need to increase the cooking time because the 2.5lb piece is larger than the pieces if the 4lb was cut into 2 pieces each weighing 2lb?

I’m a newbie for IP and struggling. When a recipe says set for Manuel and then a certain amount of time–I don’t know how to adjust the time. Do I do it when it shows “on” or the default time that comes up after a few minutes. I press the + or minus, but nothing happens. Please help! ThAnk you!

I would suggest to cook at least with a minimum liquid on it. If you are doing chicken, add at least 1 1/2 cup of chicken stock on it. Beef goes with beef stock, veggies goes with veggie stock. Hope this helps. 🙂

I want to cook Yogi Tea in the Insta-Pot. It normally takes 4-6 hrs on the stove. Do I just use the soup setting? It’s some spices with a little ginger root and cinnamon sticks, so it’s mostly liquid. This is my first attempt at using a pressure cooker.

Another great question here! Thanks for asking.
You know what, I love tea and I never even think about this (shame on me)

I asked my good friend and this is what he said (word by word) thanks for this Jay

Lock cover into place and seal steam nozzle.
Choose the soup setting and adjust to 10 minutes or set manually for 10 minutes.
Let pressure release naturally for 5 minutes, then release any remaining steam
With a fine strainer, strain out bits of cinnamon stick and ginger root. And enjoy yogi tea! (if the pot is hot , use hand protection)

I started a pork roast in my instant pot and decided after it already got up to pressure that I should add more time. I can’t figure out how to add more time while it’s cooking. I tried pushing the + button and the adjust button, but didn’t seem to do anything. Any suggestions?

Hi Bernard~
Glad you are enjoying your Instant Pot! It is my most used kitchen appliance! I live at 7000 feet in elevation and so cooking takes longer for me, whether it is by Instant Pot or on the stove. That is because water boils at a lower temperature at my altitude than at lower elevations. The liquid isn’t as hot to cook the food, so the cooking time must be increased.

However, I’ve found that it takes much longer than the 25% longer cooking time suggested in her article, particularly if I am cooking legumes. I always soak my dried legumes, but even with that, the cooking time for me is much longer. Yesterday I made some Lima beans. Most suggested cook times for soaked Lima beans are from 4 to 12 minutes. It takes me 40 minutes to cook them!

I’ve found the best thing to do with an Instant Pot is find the cooking time that works for you and write it down somewhere!

Tina, thanks for this findings. Though it’s true that sometimes suggested cooking time does vary because of certain factors that affects the cooking process, I was really surprise about the time difference you’ve noticed in your Lima Bean Soup Recipe

I received some questions from Bernard regarding the soup function on the Instant Pot. There seems to be a bit of confusion when deciding what function to use for items like soups and chili or even a soupy chili. For soups and chili you can actually use the soup function OR the bean/chili Function. You can use either function because both functions cook on high pressure for 30 minutes (which Instant Pot has deemed the normal cooking pressure/time for these items). Also, keep in mind, if you want to cook your soup or chili for more or less time you can simply adjust the cooking time (using the up and down arrows) after picking the soup or bean/chili function. There really is a ton of flexibility with the Instant Pot. Don’t let the different functions bog you down.
I look at these functions as just a quick way to access a certain cooking time/pressure. For example, if you have a different type of food that requires the same pressure and time as the soup function (3o mins at high pressure) then you can use that function instead of manual function.

Another question Bernard had was regarding a soup like Minestrone that uses dried beans-what would be the best way to go about cooking this soup? I would either use the traditional method of soaking beans over night and then continuing on as normal (see instructions above) or for a quicker method:
Follow the instructions on page 12 of the Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker Recipes book which should have come in the box with your Instant Pot. Essentially, you add 4:1 ratio of water to dried beans into the cooking insert of your Instant Pot with 1 tsp salt. Cook for 4 minutes on high and then let the Instant Pot sit in the Keep Warm mode for 10 minutes. Strain and rinse the beans. These beans are now ready to be used in your soup as you would traditionally soaked beans. The bonus-you get the same benefits as traditional soaking-less gas and better shaped beans.
Soaked beans take anywhere from 10-25 minutes to cook in the Instant Pot and are unlikely to be over-cooked (see page 33 of Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker Recipes for specifics), therefore, using either (a) the soup function (b) the bean/chili function or (c) manual mode set to 30 minutes should yield fabulous results.

Note: Soaking isn’t required for making soup using dried beans in the Instant Pot. You can add the dried beans directly to your soup, however, you would need to increase your cooking time (see page 33- the dry cooking time column for cooking specifics). Personally, however, I would use one of the soaking methods for easier digestion.

Hopefully, I’ve helped to make cooking soup a tad easier using the Instant Pot! If anyone has any further questions or needs more help feel free to email me directly.

Hollie, thanks for the time and brilliant insights. Today, most people who love soup are the same one who are trying to find the answer on “How to Start Eating Better Everyday” and your article about this is a great place to start with. For more Paleo Friendly | Gluten Free | and even Dairy Free recipes – your Healthy Whole Food Recipes is worth bookmarking.

Thanks for reaching out to me about pressure cooking vegetables! Veggies can be delicate, so it can be tricky to get them just right in the pressure cooker. One trick I’ve learned recently is that you can actually adjust Instant Pot’s cooking time down to zero – it holds pressure for less than 1 minute, so it works well for semi-tender vegetables like broccoli that would otherwise be overcooked under pressure.

Another pro tip: Instant Pot’s “steam” setting uses more intense heat than the standard pressure modes, because there’s no need to worry about food scorching on the bottom when you’re using a steamer rack.

And as a culinary dietitian, of course I have to chime in on nutrition: specific evidence on the effects of pressure cooking is a bit limited, but the papers that I’ve read suggest that nutrient loss is not a concern. There are only a handful of micronutrients that are heat-sensitive; vitamin C is one of them, and even that nutrient has been measured as having greater retention with pressure cooking than conventional boiling or steaming (perhaps due to shorter cooking times). It also appears that pressure cooking doesn’t significantly affect the antioxidant capacity of vegetables (here is an interesting link: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1745-4514.2009.00316.x/abstract). If any of your readers have read anything else interesting about pressure cooking and nutrition, I’d love to hear it!

This is amazing, Mary. Thank you very much! Your FlavorRD Recipe Index is a great source of information too for people who has a special diet. Vegan | Gluten Free | Vegetarian – all recipes inspired by a Registered Dietitian, Mary Parson.

To answer your question, here’s a quote from the Instant Pot website: “the new Instant Pot IP-LUX series has a build-in browning function called “Sauté”. It can be used to brown meat before cooking or thickening sauces after cooking. You can choose from three settings such as low, medium and high by pressing on the “Adjust” button. When using the “Sauté ” function, the lid needs to remain in the “open” position.

When the meat has reached the desired browning effect, simply click on the “Cancel” key to turn OFF your Instant Pot and then pick the desired setting to continue cooking your meal.”

Thanks Amy, now we can avoid having an overcooked beans using Instant Pot – the black dried beans recipe of Amy ( Easy Instant Pot Black Beans with Bacon ) calls for a 40 minutes high pressure cooking followed by quick release method. Now we can say that using fresh beans – cooking time will play between 13 – 20 minutes high pressure + quick release depending on food temperature ingredients.